Health News E-Clips

An electronic healthcare news link service provided by UHA,

Utah Hospitals and Health Systems Association

 

 

 

Monday, May 4, 2009

 

Utah Healthcare Headlines

Medicaid cuts leave hospitals strapped (Salt Lake Tribune, May 1, 2009) Utah hospitals say legislators cut too deep when their Medicaid budget was on the operating table, leaving them looking for a fix to avoid having to hike rates for insured patients.

  • State to correct Medicaid shortfall (Deseret News, May 1, 2009) Utah state government will find a way to fill a $7.5 million "shortfall" in Medicaid money to local hospitals, state leaders said Friday.

 

No surprise: Health care hard on budgets (Salt Lake Tribune, May 2, 2009) A new report shows that health care costs continue to burden Utah families. More than a quarter of Utahns will spend more than 10 percent of pre-tax income on health care needs in 2009, according to a projection in a new report from Families USA. Most of those families already have insurance.

 

Health reform called a Trojan horse (Deseret News, May 4, 2009) A health-care system reform plan gaining momentum in Washington, D.C., might be called a "public option," but it is neither public-minded nor much of an option, former Utah Gov. Mike Leavitt said Thursday.

 

National Healthcare Headlines

Flu-hit Mexico mulls reopening schools, businesses (Washingon Post, May 4, 2009) Mexico decides Monday whether to reopen businesses and schools or extend a shutdown that has helped choke off the spread of swine flu but caused untold economic harm. (Registration required)

  • Acting CDC head adopts public role with swine flu (KSL.com, May 3, 2009) Dr. Richard Besser had a relatively low public profile at the nation's public health agency. Then swine flu hit.
  • UN Says No Plans for Highest Pandemic Level Yet (New York Times, May 4, 2009) The heads of the United Nations and the World Health Organization say there are no imminent plans to raise its pandemic alert to its highest level. (Registration required)
  • Obama: Flu 'can be defeated' (USA Today, May 4, 2009) President Obama seeked to reassure Americans Saturday that his administration is acting "quickly and aggressively" to avert "the potential for a pandemic" of the new flu strain.
  • Outbreak in Mexico May Be Smaller Than Feared (New York Times, May 2, 2009) The World Health Organization announced on Saturday an increase in the number of confirmed cases of swine flu, but said there was no evidence of sustained community spread outside of North America, which would lead to raising the pandemic alert. (Registration required)  
  • First US Swine Flu Victim Was Born to Wealth (New York Times, May 4, 2009) While some of Mexico's swine flu fatalities were poor and had uncertain access to health care, the toddler who became the first U.S. death from the outbreak was born into one of Mexico's wealthiest families. (Registration required)  
  • A Nation of Typhoid Marys (New York Times, May 2, 2009) As swine flu spreads around the country, it’s only appropriate that the next political donnybrook may concern health care. (Registration required)
  • Quick Action by Hong Kong Reflects Experience of SARS (New York Times, May 2, 2009) Six years after SARS paralyzed this city and killed 299 of its citizens, Hong Kong is not taking chances with swine flu. (Registration required)
  • Action Taken to Prevent Hoarding of Flu Drugs (New York Times, May 2, 2009) Health authorities and drug companies say that supplies are generally ample for the two drugs that would be vital to treating a pandemic caused by swine flu, but that they are acting to prevent hoarding.  (Registration required)  
  • Predicting Flu With the Aid of (George) Washington (New York Times, May 4, 2009) The best way to track the spread of swine flu across the United States in the coming weeks may be to imagine it riding a dollar bill. (Registration required)
  • Flu, Mostly Mild, Has Spread Across U.S. (New York Times, May 4, 2009) Swine flu has become widespread in the United States, with 226 cases in 30 states and more expected to turn up in additional states in the next few days, federal health officials said Sunday. (Registration required)
  • Plane truth (Boston Globe, May 4, 2009) As international travelers help swine flu hopscotch across the globe, the potential pandemic sharpens a paranoia familiar to even the most casual flier. Isn't sitting on a plane for hours, squished next to strangers and breathing the same air, a surefire recipe for getting sick later? (Registration required)  
  • Flu doesn't respect borders (Editorial, Deseret News, May 4, 2009) All you have to do is look at the map of confirmed cases of swine influenza in the United States. With the exceptions of California and Texas, the most populated states west of the Mississippi River, other states along the U.S.-Mexican border have had negligible numbers of confirmed cases.
  • Utah officials say flu is no cause for alarm (Salt Lake Tribune, May 2, 2009) While Utah now has nine probable cases of the new H1N1 flu, health officials continued to stress Friday that the illnesses are mild and residents should not be alarmed.
  • H1N1 swine flu confirmed in Summit County (Salt Lake Tribune, May 3, 2009) May is the slow month in Utah's premier ski town and when it turns cool and rainy, it's even slower. Add to that a bad economy and a confirmed case of the new H1N1 swine flu and what do you have?
  • Swine flu test positive in Utah (Deseret News, May 3, 2009) The first case of swine flu has been confirmed in Utah, officials announced Saturday morning at a press conference at the Park City Library.
  • In Mexico, an Unusual Flu Season Was a Sign of Something Ominous (Washington Post, May 3, 2009) For seven tense days, the nation's top epidemiologist, Miguel Ángel Lezana, waited for the answer to a deadly mystery. When the news finally came April 23, it was as bad as he had feared. (Registration required)
  • Sleuthing Swine Flu (Washington Post, May 3, 2009) Nancy Cox's phone connection to Mexico kept cutting off. Rain came down in sheets above the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (Registration required)
  • In the Workplace, Awaiting Guidance on How to Counter Flu (Washington Post, May 4, 2009) As recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention prompt more schools to close for extended periods because of the swine flu outbreak, businesses and other organizations are getting a much less clear message from public health officials. (Registration required)
  • American Epidemics, a Brief History (New York Times, May 2, 2009) ALL epidemics are different in their own way, and the current swine flu outbreak — which by Friday had sickened 141 people in 19 states, and caused deaths and illness in Mexico and 13 other countries — is no exception. (Registration required)
  • China Confirms First Swine Flu Case (Washington Post, May 2, 2009) Chinese authorities confirmed the country's first case of swine flu on Friday evening and put into full swing a meticulously planned program to contain the outbreak. (Registration required)
  • Ever-Changing Virus Challenges Drugmakers (Washington Post, May 2, 2009) The swine flu virus is a wily foe whose central weapon against humans is its ability to rapidly change its form. But the virus also benefits from the slow pace at which people technologically adapt to it. (Registration required)
  • Mexican Officials Say Flu's Ability to Spread May Be Low (Washington Post, May 2, 2009) Mexican health officials studying the new influenza virus said Friday they have found that its ability to spread from person to person may be fairly low, raising hopes that the extreme measures taken here -- the shutting down of all nonessential commerce and government-- can contain its spread. (Registration required)
  • Mexico Aims to Return to Normalcy as Flu Fears Diminish (Wall Street Journal, May 4, 2009) Mexican officials lowered their flu alert level in the capital Monday and said they will allow cafes, museums and libraries to reopen this week. World health officials weighed raising their pandemic alert to the highest level.
  • Transmission of Virus a Puzzle for Scientists (Wall Street Journal, May 4, 2009) With the world on the brink of a pandemic, scientists are trying to find the answers to some vital questions -- and quickly.
  • U.S. Officials Worry About Fall Flu (Wall Street Journal, May 4, 2009) Top U.S. health officials said they are seeing some "encouraging" signs that the H1N1 flu virus doesn't appear to be causing severe illness in the U.S, but they said they remained concerned about this fall's influenza season.
  • Reporter Tries to Get Tested for Swine Flu (Wall Street Journal, May 4, 2009) It had been 10 years since I had the flu. But over the past week, I spent four days in isolation at New York's Montefiore Medical Center after contracting a serious case.
  • WHO: More than 1K H1N1 cases worldwide (USA Today, May 4, 2009) The number of cases in the global H1N1 influenza epidemic is "very fluid" but does not appear to be headed to pandemic level, World Health Organization flu director Keiji Fukuda said Monday.
  • Flu could flourish in southern hemisphere winter (USA Today, May 4, 2009) Southern hemisphere countries that have largely escaped swine flu infections could soon become more vulnerable, experts warn, as the approaching winter brings with it an elevated risk of the virus spreading and mutating.
  • Experts: Tamiflu, Relenza work on swine flu but only sickest may get it (USA Today, May 4, 2009) The swine flu is susceptible to two antivirals, but prescribing them at this point of the outbreak should be reserved for only the very ill or those with severe immune deficiencies, experts are reporting.
  • Leading U.S. health expert urging cautious flu approach (Salt Lake Tribune, May 4, 2009) A leading U.S. health expert said Monday that while "there are encouraging signs" of a leveling off in the severity of the swine flu threat, it's still too early to declare the problem under control.
  • Four more probable H1N1 flu cases in Utah (Salt Lake Tribune, May 4, 2009) Utah has four new probable cases of the new H1N1 swine flu, the state Department of Health reports.

 

Few hospitals go paperless using free VA software (Boston Globe, May 4, 2009) In a country where just 1.5 percent of US hospitals have fully computerized records, one of the poorest and least technologically advanced states has created a paperless records system for its state-run hospitals and nursing homes serving the indigent elderly and mentally ill. (Registration required)

 

U.S. to Keep Medicare Payments to Hospitals Flat  (Wall Street Journal, May 2, 2009) The federal government plans to keep Medicare's payments to hospitals essentially flat starting this fall mainly because it said hospitals have been inflating how sick patients are in order to get higher reimbursements.

 

Waves of suffering (Boston Globe, May 4, 2009) Judi Campbell inches along at work with the help of a walker. Degenerative arthritis has ruined her hip and ravaged much of her body, so she takes prescription painkillers every four hours to cope. (Registration required)

 

How to avoid diabetes (Boston Globe, May 4, 2009) Getting exercise and eating a good diet can cut an older person's risk for developing type 2 diabetes nearly in half, a Boston study shows. (Registration required)

 

A public plan for healthcare (Editorial, Boston Globe, May 4, 2009) The success of Massachusetts' three-year-old experiment with universal health insurance has made it a focus of attention as Congress and the Obama administration weigh reform on a national scale. (Registration required)

 

Health-reform train is leaving the station (Opinion, May 2, 2009) Congress has made a controversial decision on national health reform: The federal budget includes provisions allowing health-reform legislation to be approved by a simple Senate majority (51 votes) instead of the filibuster-proof 60 votes.

 

Can’t Get Midwife? YouTube Will Assist (New York Times, May 2, 2009) It was 2:30 in the morning, and Marc and Jo Stephens were at home in Redruth, Cornwall, when Ms. Stephens realized that their fourth child was about to be born, three weeks early. (Registration required)

 

Wal-Mart Expands Drug Program (Wall Street Journal, May 4, 2009) Wal-Mart Stores Inc. is expanding a pilot prescription-drug program for companies, heating up the race among pharmacy retailers to transform the way drugs are priced and sold.